


Time to Mend

by st_mick



Series: He is the Sun... [5]
Category: Doctor Who (2005), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Torchwood
Genre: A realllllllly loooonnnng sex scene, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Don't say I didn't warn you, Forgiveness and mended relationships, It just kind of goes on and on... in a good way, It's a VERY happy Christmas aboard the TARDIS, Multi, Rory's greatest fear, Time to heal, non-canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-06
Updated: 2018-09-06
Packaged: 2019-07-07 13:46:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15909447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/st_mick/pseuds/st_mick
Summary: Rory's health - both physical and, in the aftermath of the return of the Doctor and Amy, mental - needs to be addressed.  A whispered confession has Jack on the run, but not before Rory lays a claim.  But Jack's request, while initially hurtful, turns out to be for the best as it gives Rory time to sort himself out, mend his relationship with two of his beloveds, and woo the third.Events of "The God Complex", "The Wedding of River Song", and "The Power of Three" are tweaked/added to/reinterpreted to align with the characters as they've been developed here.Mentions given to events in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and some Marvel characters mentioned.  More of that crossover in the next work.Also, I've tweaked the timelines to sync up with the MCU and what comes next.Enjoy!





	1. Damage

Rory shoved the Doctor away from him, scrambled to his feet, and broke the facing off of the back door as he crashed through it.

“Let him go,” Brian grabbed Jack’s arm.  “Give him a moment, for God’s sake.”  The kitchen was in pandemonium.  “Quiet!” he shouted.  Everyone looked at him, wide-eyed.  “Sit down, the lot of you.”

He left the room and came back with the recycling bin, a container about three feet by two feet by two feet.  He sat it on the counter.  “I suppose that was meant to be a joke,” he looked at the Doctor.

“There are so many things that sound better in my head than they do, out loud,” the Doctor groaned.

“Jesus, Doc,” Jack sighed.  “Why couldn’t you just apologize?”

“The conversation got away from me.  Again.”  He looked sad.  Haunted.  “I was trying to explain.”

“Well, before this goes any further, there are some things you need to know, so you can think through how you’re going to proceed,” Brian said.  “I read the list of dos and don’ts you gave Rory when you brought him back here.  It says that ginger beer is not good for him, but it didn’t elaborate.”

“Is he still drinking ginger beer?” the Doctor frowned.  “I told him to stop.”

“Did you tell him why he should stop?  When I asked him about it, he told me he figured it was the lesser of two evils, because it helps him sleep.  He’s been taking his bottles to recycle so I wouldn’t see how many he was getting through, but bless him, he was never built for deceit.”  Bryan took the recycling container and set poured its contents onto the table.  There were at least twenty collapsed cardboard ginger beer carriers, the kind that held six bottles, each.

Jack whistled.  “And it’d only take two to get you hammered, Doc.”

“Doctor?” Amy asked, feeling alarmed but not knowing why.

The Doctor stared at the carriers, his eyes pained.  “Well, I don’t need to scan him to determine the problem with his eating.  He’s been poisoning himself.”

Jack groaned.  “Why didn’t that show up on my scans?”

“It’s a subtle effect.  You’d have to know what you were looking for.”

“Why didn’t you tell him it was poison?” Brian asked, feeling wobbly.

The Doctor clapped him on the shoulder reassuringly.  “I will fix this, I promise.”  He made to leave, but Brian grabbed his arm.

“There’s more.”

“More ginger beer?”

“No.”  Brian moved to a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of aspirin, tossing it onto the kitchen table.  He moved from cabinet to cabinet, then drawer to drawer, then to the sideboard and the desk.  By the time he was done, there were ten bottles of aspirin on the table.

“There are more upstairs.  I know they’re poison, to him.  I asked him why he’s buying them, and he says he just feels better, having them around.  He promised me not to take any, but he’s collecting bottles, almost obsessively.  I don’t think he’s suicidal, but I still dread coming in that door every evening, what I might find.”

“He wouldn’t do that to you, Brian,” Amy came over and hugged him.  “Rory would never do that to you.”

“Maybe.  Maybe he wouldn’t do it so I’d find him, but I don’t know that he wouldn’t do it at all.  Not anymore.”  He let Amy go, looking at her.  “I’ve never seen him like this, Amy.”

“But it’ll be all right now,” she said, almost desperately.  “Now we’re back, we’ll fix this.”

“Will you?  He’s worse tonight than he’s been since before the other Doctor took care of the neuropathy.”

Before Amy could even react, the TARDIS cloister bell began chiming.  The Doctor bolted for the door.  “Something’s wrong,” he cried.

“What is it, Doctor?” Jack called out, running after him. 

“Rory,” the Doctor was turning around in the yard, looking wildly around.  “Rory’s in trouble!”

All four ran into the back yard, calling for Rory.  The Doctor found him, curled against the back side of the TARDIS, still and cold and staring.  “Jack!” he called out.  “Get him into the TARDIS!”

“Rory!” Amy screamed.

Jack gathered Rory into his arms and picked him up far too easily.

The Doctor led Jack inside and to the med bay.  Brian only spared the merest of glances as he followed, Amy’s hand in his.

Jack lay Rory on one of the beds, and the Doctor said, “Undress him,” to Jack.  He began scanning Rory.  “No, no, no,” he muttered.  “One of the hearts has stopped.  He was pulling on gloves.  “Amy, don’t touch him without gloves.”

“What?” she pulled her hand back.  “Why not?”

“Because he was beginning to show signs of developing touch telepathy.”

“Still is,” Jack said.

“And we’ve done nothing but hurt him, lately.  Touching him right now might make things worse."

Amy sniffled and obediently took a pair of gloves from the Doctor.

Jack finished undressing Rory and placed a blanket over him.  “He’s freezing.”

“That may be what saves him,” the Doctor muttered, taking off his jacket and rolling up his sleeves.  “Jack, touch him.  Brian, hold his hand.  He feels safe with you both.  Let him feel you.”

Brian took Rory’s hand.  “We’re here, Son.” 

Jack had one hand in Rory’s hair, the other stroking his cheek.  He was kissing Rory’s temple and whispering, “It’s all right, Rory.  Please.”  The ginger beer had been upsetting.  The aspirin had been terrifying.  But this…  Jack was well and truly frightened.  “Doctor, I’ve seen you drink ginger beer.  How is it poison?”

“Well hypervodka isn’t exactly crushed vitamins for you, is it?” the Doctor frowned, attaching small devices to Rory’s chest over each of his hearts.  He turned them on and they began sending small electrical pulses to each organ, in an alternating pattern. 

He moved on, attaching an IV port to each arm, and then near the femoral artery (its equivalent, rather) in each leg.  “Ginger beer isn’t the best thing in the world for me, but every now and again, a relaxing drink is fine.  But Rory’s brand new physiology?  It doesn’t know what to do with it.  Or how to metabolize it.  Perhaps in moderation, it would have been fine.  But he’s been poisoning himself over the course of weeks.”

Amy’s gloved hands were gripping Rory’s hand.  “What does that mean?”

The Doctor went to a cabinet and pulled out four large bags of fluid.  “It means…” the Doctor ran a hand through his hair, thinking about the adverse effects on appetite and the mechanical hardening that would make the act of swallowing a struggle.  He thought of all the other myriad effects, none of them good.  He shook his head and continued, “It means that he’s malnourished and weak.  His hearts are too new.  They’re not strong enough for the strain he’s put them under.” 

He looked at the label on one bag and tossed it to Jack.  “Right arm.”  He read another bag’s label and attached it to Rory’s right leg.  The third attached to his left leg.  Jack took the fourth and attached it to the port on Rory’s left arm. 

“The strain we’ve put them under,” Amy said quietly, tears falling.

The Doctor stared at the monitor.  “What I felt, when he stopped breathing...  His hearts were beating so fast, they were humming.  That’s dangerous, and not sustainable.”  He turned to the drawer and pulled out a leech.  Jack helped turn Rory so he could place it in the small of his back.

“What happened?” Jack asked.  “I mean, the anger, I understood.  Felt a flash of it, myself.”

The Doctor grimaced.  “As soon as we hit the floor, I think he realized he could have hurt me.  He was horrified, and he had a panic attack.  He stopped breathing.  His respiratory bypass kicked in, probably for the first time, and he didn’t know what it was.  It fed his panic, and he accidentally shut it down.  By the time he started breathing again, the strain had probably become too much.”

He placed a hand over Rory’s right heart.  “This one stopped.  The other one slowed down dangerously.”

“His breathing seems normal, now,” Jack said, his hand also on Rory’s chest. 

“Yes.  And both hearts are beating again.  Once I get the poison out of his system, I should be able to reverse the damage.”

“So these fluids will flush out the poison?” Brian asked, still gripping his son’s hand.

“These two,” the Doctor pointed to the bags at Rory’s right arm and left leg, “will bind to the toxins and neutralize them.  The other two flush them out through the kidneys.  Well.  I say kidneys.  And the leech that we just attached to his back will clear his kidneys and intestines while he’s out.  Well, I say intestines...”

“He’ll be all right?” Amy interrupted, her voice small.

The Doctor put his arm around her and kissed her head.  He looked at the monitor again.  “Yes.  Look.  He’s already stabilizing.”  He stepped around Amy and put his hand on the top of Rory’s head.  He looked up.  “Thank you,” he smiled.  Then he frowned.  “Will you ask him?”  He looked at Amy, then Jack.  “She’s with him.”  He looked up again.  “Thank you, Old Girl.”

“Who’s with him?” Brian asked.

“The TARDIS,” Amy answered.  “She calls Rory her ‘Pretty’.”

Jack smiled, then looked at Rory.  “She’s not wrong.”

Amy shook her head, tears in her eyes.  “No.  Rory is beautiful.”  She looked up and saw Jack still smiling down at Rory, nodding in agreement.  She sighed.  She could do this. 

During the last seven weeks, the thing Amy had struggled with most was how Jack was going to fit into their lives.  The relationship between the three was still so new.  How to allow in a fourth?  Clearly the Doctor and Rory both had feelings for Jack.  Where did that leave her?  With a deep breath, she resolutely set aside her insecurities, for the moment. 

One crisis at a time.

Leaning down, the Doctor whispered to Rory, “I need to come in, Love.  I will bring Jack and your father, if that will make you feel safe.  But you need to allow me to check on you.”  He closed his eyes and sagged in relief.  “Thank you.”

The Doctor looked up.  “It wasn’t a ‘no’, so I’m interpreting it as a ‘yes’.”  He took off the gloves.  He was at Rory’s right side.  He slid his left hand under Rory’s head.  With his right he undid his bowtie.  He had Amy stand at Rory’s head.  He grabbed her right hand and held it to his neck.  “You’re coming, too.”  He reached out for Brian’s hand.  Brian kept hold of Rory’s left hand and clasped the Doctor’s.

“Every man for himself, then,” Jack grinned, walking around and standing to the Doctor’s right.  He untucked the Doctor’s shirt.  Taking Rory’s hand, Jack reached under the Doctor’s shirt, and placed his other hand at the small of his back. 

The Doctor looked at Jack and nodded.  Then he leaned down and pressed his forehead to Rory’s.  “We’re coming in now, Love,” he whispered.

***


	2. The Howling

They moved along like schoolchildren, holding hands in a long chain.  The Doctor was at the head of the line, holding Amy’s hand.  Amy held Brian’s hand, and Brian held Jack’s. 

Jack was freaking the fuck out.

They were moving down some sort of impossibly narrow passage, turned sideways to fit, pressed between what seemed to be walls of jagged black glass.  As the passage seemed to narrow further, the Doctor said, “We may have to turn back.”

“Can’t,” Jack growled.

“Why not?” Amy asked.

“Don’t turn around to look, but you can only go one way on this path unless you want to be cut to shreds.”  It did not go unnoticed that Jack’s voice was laced with panic.

The Doctor looked more closely at the glass.  “You’re right.  We’ll have to keep going.”

They finally squeezed their way out of the passage, only to find themselves in a dark clearing with great walls of glass ending in jagged shards pointing into the open area.  At the center was a swirling whirlwind of darkness.  They were surrounded by darkness, yet somehow, they could see one another.  And there was another sound, like a chain unspooling.

“Doctor?” Amy said.  “This isn’t like before.”

“No,” the Doctor replied, looking around.

Jack sank to his knees, holding his head in his hands.

“Jack?” Brian knelt beside him.

“It’s the howling,” Jack gritted.

The Doctor knelt beside Jack.  “This?”

“This.  No idea why I’m freaking out.  Not like I haven’t seen it, millions of times.”

The Doctor had been peering around, but he jerked his head back to Jack.  “ _Millions_?”

“I was buried alive for eighteen hundred and seventy-four years,” he panted.  “I’m rounding.”

The Doctor looked horrified.  “Come on,” he said, hauling Jack to his feet.  “Let’s find Rory.”

“Doctor,” Jack whispered, realizing the source of his panic.  “If Rory’s mind has _become_ the howling…”  He couldn’t bear to finish the thought.

“Even if he has, we’ll help him find his way back,” the Doctor said, determinedly.

“This is what you see, when you die?” Amy asked, looking around.

“Rory says there’s a light, on the other side,” Jack said.  “But I’ve never seen it.  He says it would drive me mad, if I did.  I would have said he was being kind, but he looked so haunted when he talked about waiting for the memory of it to fade, so it wouldn’t hurt so much, that I believe him.”

The Doctor was staring at him.

“Why would the memory of the light hurt?” Brian asked.  “I would think it would be a comfort.”

“In theory, yes.  But to have touched paradise, only to be ripped away from it again?”  Jack sighed.  “He looked haunted, having only seen it a couple of times.  But millions of times… maybe he’s right.”

“And you’re dragged backwards through that, to return?” Amy asked, frowning.

Jack nodded, and Amy reached out and squeezed his arm in sympathy.

“What is that noise?” Brian asked.

They moved toward the sound.  It looked like the heart of the whirlwind.  As they approached, they saw a woman standing some distance from it.  The Doctor stepped up beside her.

“Hello, Beautiful!” Jack exclaimed, smiling.

Idris looked at Jack.  “You.  You were my very own Lad.  And then the pink and yellow one _fixed_ you.”  She frowned.  “Now you make me want to run away.”

His smile faded, his eyes unable to hide the pain her words had caused.  “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.  And Pretty says we are more than our instincts.  Thief has worked very hard so you can be with us, again, without it hurting.”

“Do you still want to run away?”

She shook her head, smiling at the realization.

“Would it hurt you if I hugged you?”

She shook her head again.

Jack embraced her, and then gave her a soft kiss.  “Thank you,” he said, stepping back.

“That was much nicer than when I kissed my Thief.”

“That’s because you bit me!” the Doctor said defensively.

Jack chuckled, but then turned back to Idris.  “Can you unfix me?”

She blinked.  “I do not know.  I don’t think so.  But I will have a think, when my Pretty is better.”

Jack swallowed hard and nodded.

“How is it we only see you here?” the Doctor asked.

“I built the capability into the template,” she shrugged.  “But I cannot sustain this form for very long, even here.”

“Do you know where he is?”

“He is in torment,” she said, looking towards the whirlwind with a pained expression.

The whirlwind was composed of jagged shards of glass, swirling around an unseen center.  The wind was howling, and the glass swirling and shattering was making the noise they heard.

“My Rory is in there?” Brian asked, stepping forward.

“Brian, stay back,” Jack caught his arm.

“Rory Arthur Williams, you stop this, right this instant!” Brian shouted.  “Do you hear me?  Stop this at once!”

The whirlwind contracted slightly and slowed down.  The shards that made up the passageway through which they had entered all launched themselves, lifting over the group gathered in the clearing and converging on the center of the whirlwind, collapsing into it with a mighty crash. 

And then, very much like dust settling after being kicked up, the darkness cleared.  Here was what the Doctor had become used to seeing.  The mineshaft.  The Pandorica.  The other doors.  The TARDIS.  And crouched next to it, weeping as he rocked back and forth, was Rory.

“I’m sorry.  I’m sorry.  I’m sorry,” he kept repeating.

“Rory?” the Doctor took a step forward.

“No!” Rory shouted, holding out a hand, fear and desperation marking his features.

Everyone froze.

“Listen to me.  You have to run.  You have to get as far away from here as you can.  I’m a thing.  I’ll kill you.  Just go!”  He collapsed back onto the ground, distraught. 

“Rory,” Amy cried.  She grasped the Doctor’s arm.  “That’s what he said, when he was fighting the plastic for control.”

“Please, just run!”

“Thinking he could have hurt me must have triggered that memory,” the Doctor muttered.

Jack walked towards Rory.

“Please, stay back,” Rory sobbed.

“Rory, you’re not going to hurt me,” Jack said.  “Remember?”

“I’m a thing,” Rory cried.  “Please, it’s not safe.”

Jack knelt down and gathered Rory into his arms.  “Rory, by your side is the safest place I’ve ever been.  You work _so hard_ to protect the ones you love, and we’ve done a terrible job, protecting you.” 

Rory was rigid in his arms, terrified.  “I’m sorry.  I’m sorry.  I’m sorry.  Please, don’t let me hurt them.  Please, Jack.  Don’t let me hurt you.  I can’t bear it.”

“Cross your hands on your chest,” Jack murmured.  When Rory complied, Jack wrapped his arms around him, effectively immobilizing him.  Rory relaxed somewhat, burying his face in Jack’s chest and weeping, saying over and over that he was sorry and that he was a thing and fretting for their safety, in his presence.

“Shhh,” Jack soothed.  “Can I tell you what I saw, in your kitchen?  Do you trust me to tell you what I saw happening?”

Rory quietened, just a bit.  He gave a slight nod.

Jack smiled.  “Physically, you are still recovering, and feeling unwell.  Yes?” 

Rory nodded. 

“And are you willing to admit you’ve been a bit… raw, emotionally?”

Rory nodded again.

“And as a nurse, are you aware of what happens to a person who is already compromised and raw, when they are provoked beyond all measure?”

“Rage,” Rory whispered.

“Rage,” Jack replied.  “Rory, you were provoked, and you responded.  And you got ahold of yourself, almost as soon as it happened.”

“Jack, I was out of control.  I could have killed him.”

“But you didn’t.”

“His eyes,” Rory cried.  “The look in his eyes was the same look in Amy’s when… when I shot her.”  Jack held him as he trembled, as the most primal of his fears was revealed.  “I wasn’t human, and I killed Amy.  I’m not human anymore, and now I’ve attacked the Doctor.  What if…”  He swallowed.  “What if I really am a _thing_ , now?”

“Oh, really.  I must protest,” Idris came striding up and flounced down on her knees before Rory.  She took his face in her hands.  “Let me be perfectly clear.  I do not design _things_.  And I have done a _magnificent_ job on you!  But you are assuming growing pains are design flaws.  And I assure you, there are none of the latter.”

He leaned in to the touch of her hand.  “Thank you for making it so I didn’t become plastic again.  And thank you for saving my life.”

Idris released him and smiled.  “You are welcome,” she said.  She looked around.  “I should go, now.”  She leaned forward and kissed Rory, then Jack.  She stood and kissed Brian, who blinked a great deal.  “Ooh, I like you,” she said.  “You have kind eyes.  You have eyes like my Pretty.”  She turned and kissed Amy, and finally she reached up and threw her arms around the Doctor.

And then she bit his ear.

“Ow!” he protested as she dissolved into a shimmer of laughing golden light.  He rubbed his ear as Amy, Brian and Jack chuckled.  “Why is she always the bitey mad lady, with me?” he grumbled, trying to hide the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

Rory had turned his head back to Jack’s chest.  Brian knelt down beside him, now.  “Son, I want you to think about something, okay?”

Rory nodded.  He was cringing away, terrified that his father was so close to him.  Jack tightened his hold on Rory.  Knowing he could not break free of Jack’s hold, Rory began to relax, again.

“Amy has forgiven you, hasn’t she?”  He glanced back at Amy, who nodded.

Rory said, “Yes.”

“Has it occurred to you that, in not forgiving yourself, you keep this fresh, for her?”  He looked back at Amy, again.  “I’m sure that it’s a difficult memory for her, despite having forgiven you.  Perhaps if you can forgive yourself, you can put this to rest, and that will allow her to move on from it, as well.” 

He reached out and touched his son’s head.  “We know you’re sorry, and we know you couldn’t help it.”

Rory was shaking.  “I can’t forget the look on her face,” he said quietly.  “The complete and utter shock that _I_ was the one to hurt her…  And now I’ve made the Doctor make the same face.”

Jack kissed his temple.  “Rory, tell me what you remember, about what just happened.”

“One minute I was sitting at the table, and the next I had jumped over it and tackled the Doctor to the floor.  I… I…”

“Do you remember that you didn’t even go for his throat?  You grabbed him by the collar.  And as soon as you realized what you had done, you stopped.”  Jack pulled him closer.  “Rory, I think you had more control than you think you did.  Give yourself a break, please.”

Rory took a shuddering breath and gave a weary nod.

“Rory,” the Doctor knelt down beside him.  “I owe you so many apologies, Love.  But first, please know that I am fine.  You did not hurt me.  Nor do I think you even could have.  It is not in your nature.  I think you just wanted me to shut the hell up.  And quite right, too.  I am sorry for my thoughtless words.” 

He leaned forward, but stopped when he saw Rory’s eyes widen in fright.  “I would like to kiss you.  May I?” he asked.  Rory looked terrified, but he gave a hesitant nod.  The Doctor kissed Rory’s cheek and leaned back, again.

“And I apologize for abandoning you, when you needed me the most.  I remembered what had happened, and I remembered how you were when my younger self met you.  I knew it had to be repeated, or I would be interfering with my own timeline.  It broke my hearts to do it.  I am so sorry I hurt you.” 

He pointed at one of Rory’s hands.  “May I?”  At Rory’s nod, Jack loosened his hold.  Rory pulled one hand loose, but left it balled up, resting on his thigh.  The Doctor took Rory’s hand and gently unfolded it, then held it.  That Rory grasped his hand rather than turning it loose gave him the courage to continue.

“And I apologize for allowing you to think you were… an aberration.  Rory, you are extraordinary, in every way.  I am in awe of the things you have done, the things you have endured, and the way none of it has changed what a kind, loving, loyal man you are.  Honestly, I think two hearts will only deepen the qualities you already have.  You may not know this, but I didn’t exactly get on very well with the other Time Lords.  You are the best of both species, Rory.  You do not remind me of what I lost, but rather of all that I have gained, in knowing you.”

Rory sniffed and shook his head.  The Doctor knew he would gladly spend the rest of his days convincing his Centurion that he was in earnest.  And completely accurate.

“And I apologize for trying to manipulate your feelings, by coming back after only two days.  You were right, I was trying to help you find your anger so you could get it all out.  And while that was a successful endeavor,” he gave a grim smile as Rory gave a snort, “I realize now that all I did was add insult to injury, and added unnecessary stress to what was undoubtedly a very difficult encounter, for you.”

The Doctor gently pulled on Rory’s hand.  “May I?” he asked again.

That he was asking permission for every touch was going a long way to beginning to slowly rebuild Rory’s trust.  Rory gave another nod, and Jack released him, helping the Doctor to shift him from where he was leaning on Jack’s chest over to the Doctor’s. 

Jack stood and walked over beside Brian, and Amy approached, though not coming as near as Jack had been.  The Doctor wrapped his arms around Rory as Jack had, helping him to feel safer because he was restrained.  Rory leaned into him, burying his face in the Doctor’s neck breathing deeply.

_I’m sorry I attacked you._

“That’s enough of that.  I forgive you for tackling me, but I did provoke you.”

_You left me._

“I know, Rory.  I’m sorry,” the Doctor whispered into his hair.  “We’re sorry.”

_I thought I’d never see you again._

“I know.  And I am sorry.  I hope you will be able to forgive us, someday.”

Rory shook his head.  _That’s not what I mean.  I wasn’t looking to hurt either of you, when I went looking for Jack.  When I let my feelings for him… revive._

“I know, Rory.  It’s all right.  We understand.”

Rory was silent for a long moment.  He was trembling again, but then he seemed to steel himself.  _So…  Did you come to say goodbye, then?_

The Doctor jumped as though Idris had bitten him again.  Why on earth were they making such a hash of this?  Rory had asked them for an answer, and waiting for it must have been agony, for him.  He held Rory closer before freeing one arm to draw Rory’s key out of his pocket.  He handed the key to Amy, who was on her knees beside them.

Rory shrank back, still terrified of harming someone.  The Doctor held him more firmly, and he took a breath, trying to relax.  Amy was holding the cord, the key hanging from it like a promise.  She raised her eyebrows, asking for permission to put it over his head.  He gave her a hesitant nod, and his key was once more a comforting weight against his chest.

“Rory,” she whispered.  “Please, may I touch you?”

_Doctor, please don’t let me hurt her._

The Doctor knew it would be useless, at least for now, to try to convince Rory that he wasn’t going to lose control and harm one of them.  What he could do was put Rory’s mind at ease.  He slowly released Rory, whispering, “I promise.” 

Rory sat up, trembling violently as Amy drew him into her arms.  Unable to resist, he buried his face in her neck and wrapped his arms around her.  “Amy,” he choked.

“Rory, I’m sorry for what I said.  When I realized the Doctor was planning to leave you in Leadworth, I panicked.  I… I said the first thing that popped into my stupid head, and it was mean and cruel and completely untrue.”  She held him tighter, crying with him.  “I am so sorry, Rory.  Please forgive me.”

She rocked him for a moment before adding, “Please forgive us.”  He was holding her so tightly she could barely breathe.  But there was no way she would ask him to loosen his hold.  “Please come back to us, Rory.”  She craned her neck to kiss his temple.  “You make everything better.”

“And what about Jack?” he whispered, knowing that she would be the one to have a problem with Jack.

“I don’t know him, Rory.  But you do, and you love him, and I am not going to ask you to stop seeing him.”  She looked at the Doctor, and he nodded.  “The Doctor has been working on the TARDIS, making modifications so she can tolerate his… situation more easily.”

“Jack is welcome to come along with us, any time he chooses.  And when he is not traveling with us, we will visit Cardiff, as often as you wish,” the Doctor added.

Rory sat away from them, drying his eyes and looking from one to the other.  “Thank you,” he said.  He looked up at his father, who knew his son well enough to understand the question in his eyes.  He nodded encouragingly.

“Please be patient with me, and understand that as the pain eases, I will forgive you, I promise,” Rory said, taking their hands in his.  “I’m sorry, but I’m not there, yet.  I’m still reeling.  It still hurts, _so much_.  But I promise…”

He was cut off as Amy threw herself into his arms, and the Doctor wrapped his arms around both of them.  “We’ll wait,” Amy said.

“As long as you need,” the Doctor added.

When they separated, Amy looked down.  “In the hopes that you would say yes, we asked the TARDIS to add a room for you, in case you want some space, at… at first.”

“Thank you,” Rory said quietly, relieved he wouldn’t have to ask for his own room.  Then he looked at the Doctor.  “How long will I be out?”

“Probably a day,” the Doctor answered.  “We need to talk about the ginger beer and the aspirin, Rory.”

Rory frowned.  “What about the ginger beer?”

“I told you to stop drinking it,” the Doctor chastised.

“It helps me sleep,” Rory said.

“It’s the reason you can’t eat.  You’ve been poisoning yourself.”

Rory’s eyes widened.  “I’m fairly certain that if you’d told me it was poison, I would have stopped drinking it.”

“Then why have you got a dozen bottles of aspirin lying around the house?” the Doctor was properly upset, now that things seemed more settled.

Rory blinked.  “This last year, I’ve felt like there has not been a single thing that has been within my control.  From you turning Amy to goo, to Demon’s Run, to Mels dying…  And then Barcelona and Rome and… coming back here.  All of these things happening, and I feel like I’m just being swept along.  The aspirin…”  He shrugged.  “It was a reminder that there was something I _could_ control, if things got too bad.  It actually helped keep things from getting too bad.”

“And no plans to take any of them?”

Rory shook his head.  “Of course not.  How cruel would that be, to look Jack up, only to do that?  And Dad…”  He looked at his father.  “He has been so good to me.  I would never betray his kindness in such a way.”

“Even if things got too bad?” the Doctor kept pushing.

Rory huffed.  “Honestly, I’m pretty sure I’d never give you two the satisfaction of giving up, just because you left.”

Jack turned away to hide his chuckle.  He became fascinated by the doors.

The Doctor blinked.  “Satisfaction,” he muttered, shaking his head.  He decided it was time to change the subject.  “So.  I’m working on getting the toxins out of your system.  Once that’s done, I have something that will reverse the damage you’ve done to your hearts.  Once you wake, we’ll have to figure out a way for me to show you how your respiratory bypass works, so you don’t do yourself damage again by shutting it down when it kicks in.”

The Doctor stood, and offered his hand to Rory, pulling him to his feet.  He gave Rory a hug, and leaned back, raising an eyebrow.  Rory gave a small nod, and the Doctor planted a chaste kiss upon his lips.  Amy hugged and kissed him, quickly stepping back when she felt him draw back before her kiss could become more enthusiastic.

His father hugged him, patting his cheek.  As he stepped back, Rory looked at Jack.  He had hung back, as though still convinced that Rory would walk away, now that the Doctor and Amy had returned.  “Rest well, Rory,” he said with a small smile.

“Get your arse over here, Harkness,” Rory growled, closing the distance between them before Jack could comply with his words.  Rory embraced him, thanking him for helping him to feel safe.  Then he kissed Jack, a sweet, lingering kiss that told him that he wasn’t going to lose the Centurion so easily.

_Can you hear me, Jack?_

Jack startled.  He held Rory away from him, wide-eyed.  Then he nodded.

_I love you, Javic._

Jack stood looking at Rory, transfixed.  Rory kissed him again before turning him and giving him a small shove in the direction of the Doctor, who took his hand and led them away.

***


	3. One Long Night

It was almost tea time the next day when the Doctor declared Rory detoxified and healed and brought him out of the sleep state he had induced in order to mend him.  As Rory woke, he looked at four of the people he loved most, all staring at him.  He took a deep breath, being sure to stagger the intake in order to take in as much air as possible.

Letting out his breath slowly, he looked from one face to the next.  “Hello?” he asked, unsure of their expressions.

“How do you feel?” the Doctor asked, a ghost of a smile on his lips.

Rory took another breath, considering.  Then he sat up.  “Hungry, actually,” he smiled at the realization.  It was the first time he had been properly hungry since the procedure.

“Excellent!” the Doctor smiled, whirling away from him and looking at one of the monitors.

“C’mon, Brian.  Let’s start tea,” Amy said, taking her father-in-law by the hand and leading him to the TARDIS’ kitchen to cook for them all.

Jack was standing across the room, looking a bit spooked, to be honest.  Rory gave him a wink and swung his legs over the side of the bed.  It was then that he realized that the only thing covering him was a thin blanket.  “Umm, can I get some clothes, please?” he said, looking up.

He threw the blanket off and stood, unselfconsciously striding towards one of the cabinets.  The Doctor watched him move, a host of thoughts passing through his head.  The memory or a bashful Rory, uncomfortable as the Doctor changed his clothes in front of him the day they met.  The sight of how thin he had become.  The realization of how at ease he seemed, now.  Comfortable in his skin? 

The Doctor realized that since Barcelona, Rory _had_ changed.  He remembered the pirate ship, how Rory’s idea of defending Amy had been to tell the pirates off for calling her a doxy.  The Doctor vaguely wondered whether Rory would have allowed them to even touch her, had that adventure occurred after Barcelona, after he had allowed Renatus to integrate.

The Doctor was worried he might miss that awkward, peaceable man.  That sense of hesitation was no longer there.  He would fight (though still as a last resort), but his impulse to defend was so much more at the fore, now.  Now that he remembered he could.  And more importantly, he had given himself permission to do so.

Gone were the awkwardness and clumsiness, which had been endearing but had also been a bit risky, at times.  He was still quiet, steady, humble.  Still beautiful because it was as though he was becoming more _himself_ , all the time.  Yes, Rory had changed.

And yet, he was still Rory in every way.  The Doctor watched as Rory opened the cabinet, where a pair of track pants and a t-shirt were folded neatly next to a pair of shoes.  “Thanks, Love,” he said, hearing a small purr in response as he pulled the clothes on.

The Doctor was pulled from his musings as his eyes drifted towards Jack, who was also watching Rory, his eyes guarded.  Rory had communicated something to Jack before they had left him to rest the evening before, and it had shaken the captain.  The Doctor was fairly certain that he knew what Rory had told Jack.  He recognized the look – part wonder, part terror.

“I’ll just check on…” the Doctor trailed off as he left the room, hoping to give them a moment together.

Jack startled.  “I’ll just…”  He practically ran from the room.

Rory smiled.  Plenty of time to settle Jack’s nerves.  He put on his shoes and walked out to the control room.  There was a particular spot that he always seemed to find, when he was troubled or preoccupied.  Or if he wanted to have a moment with her.  He went there, now.  He leaned his forehead against the wall and pressed both hands to it.

“She missed you,” the Doctor said in a low voice.

Rory smiled.  He had heard the same thing the Doctor had.  Would he be jealous?

“You understand her, don’t you?”  The Doctor looked at him with wonder.

“Yes.”

The Doctor smiled.  “TARDISes were meant to have multiple pilots, you know.  It’s nice for her to have someone besides just me, to talk to.”  He reached out, but hesitated.  Pulled his hand back.  With a wistful smile, he left Rory, still standing with his eyes closed, communing with the TARDIS.

***

Dinner was a much more sane affair, this time around.  The tension had dissipated, now that apologies had been made.  The conversation was subdued but also relaxed and friendly.  Before long, Brian left for home.  Rory looked at Amy, and then the Doctor.  “Jack was planning on leaving in the morning.  Do you mind waiting until then, to leave?”

The Doctor smiled.  “Not at all.”

Rory hesitated.  “I think we’ll sleep in the house.”

The Doctor and Amy walked them to the door.  Amy gave Rory a look that told him she had missed him, that he had worried her, that she wanted to touch him but was afraid to.  He stepped closer to her and gave her a hug.  “Goodnight,” he said.

“G’night,” she smiled, holding him tight, though wincing at feeling how thin he was.

Rory hugged the Doctor, as well.  The latter looked utterly delighted.

Rory took Jack’s hand and led him back to the house. 

“Maybe I should,” Jack started, but Rory interrupted him with a kiss.

“You have been avoiding me,” he whispered.

“Not avoiding,” Jack hedged.

“Did I make you uncomfortable?” Rory asked, searching Jack’s face.

Jack ran a hand through his hair.  “Not uncomfortable.  You just took me by surprise.”

“I’m not asking anything of you,” Rory said, his voice soft as he kissed Jack again.  “I would like to keep seeing you, but no more often than you’d want to see me.  And if you don’t want to see me again, I understand that, too.  Just,” he sighed.  “Just let me have tonight, and you never have to see me again, if you don’t want to.”

Jack startled and pulled Rory close, holding him tight against his body.  “I…  I…”

“Shhh,” Rory soothed.  “Can we go upstairs?”

At Jack’s nod, Rory led him to the bedroom and gently undressed him.  Soft kisses and loving nuzzles accompanied an unhurried exploration that served to put Jack at his ease.  Once they were both undressed, Rory lay Jack down on his belly and with hands, mouth and tongue, he touched, massaged, kissed, licked and bit his way from head to toe and back again. 

He worked his way back down, noticing that Jack was relaxed but starting to want more.  Biting a round, firm cheek, he reached for the bottle of lube on the nightstand and set it beside him.  Then he began exploring again.  He gently spread Jack’s arse cheeks, causing him to startle and then groan when Rory blew over his hole.

He began kissing Jack, causing a delicious moan and an arching of his back.  Rory then passed the flat of his tongue over the whole area, from perineum to the top of his crack.  Returning to the main point of interest, he patiently laved for a while longer before becoming a bit more focused in his attention. 

Jack grew more vocal as Rory began rimming him in earnest.  He cried out when Rory’s tongue plunged in, retreating again to trace the tight ring of muscle before diving in, once more.  Just as Jack was approaching orgasm, Rory gentled his pace, moving away from the sensitized area and kissing his way up Jack’s spine. 

Rory bit and kissed Jack’s neck, nibbling his earlobe as he whispered filthy promises that had Jack moaning and rocking his hips into the bed, trying to relieve some of the pressure that was building again.  Rory lay on top of him, running his hands up and down Jack’s body, slowing his pace, gentling Jack’s racing heart.

When Jack had calmed, Rory began kissing his way along his spine again.  Opening the bottle of lube, he poured a few drops onto the small of Jack’s back, eliciting a minor protest.  It was just enough for his middle finger.  That was all he needed, for the moment. 

Using the pad of that finger, he pressed against the ring of muscle that had just received such loving attention.  Jack gave a quiet moan of pleasure.  Rory made a lazy circle around the ridge of muscle before slowly pressing his finger into Jack. 

Impatient, Jack tried to raise his hips.  “Shhh,” Rory soothed, nibbling Jack’s ear again, whispering sweet nonsense as he lazily moved his finger.  “Patience, Love.”

Not attempting more than the one finger, Rory pleasured Jack, challenging his patience, keeping him needy as he once again climbed towards his release.  But again, as Jack approached his orgasm, Rory slowly pulled back, smoothing his hands along Jack’s skin and talking him back down, again.

Once Jack had calmed again, Rory turned him onto his back.  He lay on his side, his chest pressed against Jack’s side as they kissed unhurriedly.  Jack quickly grew hard again, and Rory leaned away and began talking to him about everything and nothing.

At this point, Jack was enjoying himself too much to be frustrated.  He was no centurion, but he could be patient.  And he was curious where Rory would take him, this night.  He had not enjoyed this level of intimacy with anyone in several years, and he hadn’t realized how much he had missed it.  His body calmed again, and soon enough Rory began paying him attention, again.

Rory explored Jack’s body from head to toe, once more.  As he made his way back up Jack’s body, he lingered for a long time at Jack’s neck, enjoying the feel of his pulse point as he kissed and licked and nibbled.  He resisted the urge to bite because he was going for a slow burn. 

And Jack did burn.  He was sweating from the strain, and his patience was beginning to fade.  Rory had been tormenting him for almost an hour, at this point.  Every time Jack reached for a cock, be it his own or Rory’s, his hand would be gently diverted.  He had stopped trying, and was holding on to the slatted headboard.

Rory began kissing him passionately, his hands exploring the planes of Jack’s body.  Jack growled into his mouth, hoping the teasing was done.  He soon found that his hope was in vain.

Rory gentled his kisses, allowing Jack to calm, once more.  With more lube he plunged a finger back in as he licked Jack’s cock like a lemon ice lolly on a hot day.  Jack was cursing at this point, arching into Rory’s mouth as a second finger began preparing him.

Rory positioned himself between Jack’s legs.  With a deliberation that had Jack in awe, Rory slowly pressed into him.

It was exquisite.

Once fully buried in Jack, Rory rocked his hips from side to side for a moment.  Jack looked up at him and felt as though his soul had been laid bare.  He bridled and instinctively tried to move away, but Rory followed, lying atop Jack and resting on his elbows, above him.

Rory leaned down and kissed Jack, one of those long, lazy, deep kisses that made it feel as though time was standing still.  Jack rocked his hips, pulling Rory in deeper.  They both moaned at the sensation.

_Christ, you feel good._

Jack gasped.  Rory pulled back, slightly.  “Sorry, that seems to keep happening.”

Jack stared up at him.  Released his death grip on the headboard and cupped Rory’s cheek.  He blinked, trying to remember.  It had been so long since he had tried to communicate in this way.  _Rory_.

Rory’s eyes widened, and then he grinned.  He began moving inside of Jack, slowly.  He leaned down and began kissing Jack’s neck again.  _So delicious.  So precious_. 

Jack shivered.  _Don’t stop.  Please don’t stop again_.

Rory chuckled.  Jack didn’t like his odds, but for the moment, his centurion kept fucking him with slow, deep strokes and it felt like he was pushing his way into Jack’s soul.  He kissed Jack again, licking into his mouth with that clever, talented tongue.

As Jack’s orgasm built, Rory slowed.  Jack growled in frustration as his release retreated, once again. 

Rory kept Jack on the edge of that orgasm for another hour.

 _PLEASE_.

Jack had been seconds away from coming when Rory had pulled out, altogether.  Jack was so wound up he couldn’t quite see straight.  Rory handed him a glass of water, which he almost refused in petulance.  His patience had become a thing of the past.

Rory spoke to him of nonsense things as their blood cooled and their bodies relaxed and softened.  “I never knew you to be into this sort of torment,” Jack said brusquely.

Rory shook his head.  “I’m not.  I’m not punishing you or tormenting you or trying to dominate you.”

“Then what the hell are you doing?” Jack asked in exasperation.

“Giving you hours and hours of pleasure,” Rory smiled wickedly.  “That will culminate in a truly mind-blowing orgasm.  Eventually.”

Jack rolled his eyes.  “Why?”

Rory was running his hand over Jack’s chest, smoothing it down his side.  “You are so beautiful, Javic,” his voice caught.  “I am worshiping you.”

Jack was instantly hard again.  “Come here.”  He pulled Rory to him and they began kissing again, all tongue and hunger. 

Rory ran his teeth along Jack’s jaw as he moved between Jack’s legs.  He didn’t break the kiss as he poured a bit more lube onto his cock and sank back into Jack’s body.  He leaned down and kissed Jack again, hard and deep, his thrusting hips setting a similar rhythm. 

Jack grasped Rory’s arse and pulled him deeper, desperate for more.  _More.  Please, more_.

Rory fucked his hips into Jack, shoving in hard before holding there for a moment, rocking his hips.  It was intense and overwhelming and still Jack begged for more.  Rory rolled his hips, hitting Jack’s prostate and causing him to give an unexpected bellow. 

They were both becoming more vocal, Rory growling with the force and effort of each thrust and Jack crying out as he approached an ecstasy he could not remember feeling, before.  Rory leaned back just far enough to wrap a lubed hand around Jack’s cock, jerking him with the same rhythm of his thrusts.

_Javic.  Please.  I can’t hold on much longer._

Jack’s body wound tighter and tighter, and he opened his eyes and saw Rory looking at him with such intensity that his entire body clenched.  He knew he would wank to the memory of that look for the rest of his days.

Jack came so hard that his entire body arched up off of the bed.  He screamed, and some small part of his brain wondered when the last time he had come so hard it had made him actually scream. 

_Rory!_

In that moment, Rory felt as though Jack’s entire being was wrapped around him, taking him over the edge and bringing him off with breathtaking force.  He came with a shout that was almost as loud as Jack’s. 

Some sort of dam broke between them.  Each felt the other’s sensations compound his own as wave after wave of pleasure coursed through their bodies.  It was as though they had touched a live wire, and some sort of feedback loop prolonged the pleasure, drawing it out to a point just shy of pain.

Finally spent, Rory collapsed onto Jack, both of them gasping for breath, their hearts racing.

***


	4. A Difficult Request

Some amount of time passed that even Rory’s new time sense couldn’t track.  When their hearts had finally calmed, Rory pulled out of Jack and collapsed onto his back beside him.

“I hate you just a little bit, right now,” Jack muttered, his body still trembling.

Rory felt a bit faint from the exertion.  “You’re welcome,” he chuckled.  He laced his fingers with Jack’s and held his hand, waiting for his body to cool.  They were both drenched in sweat and overheated, but the mild air of the room was quickly cooling and drying them.

“Jack,” Rory stared at the ceiling and tried to gather his words.  He was glad that the Doctor had taken the time to show him how to keep his thoughts to himself, because Jack would definitely panic if he knew how full Rory’s heart was, at the moment.  And he knew that, no matter how phenomenal the sex, Jack needed time to adjust to the idea of allowing someone to love him, again. 

But the sex had needed to be phenomenal enough to give Jack pause, in case he was inclined to run.

Jack let go of Rory’s hand and turned on his side, facing him.  “Yes?”

Rory sighed and turned on his side.  Jack drew in a startled breath.  Rory looked utterly shattered.  “Maybe we should talk in the morning.  You look done in.”

Indeed, Rory felt utterly shattered.  But they needed to have this conversation.  He did not trust Jack to not clear out during the night, while Rory slept.  “No, it’s fine.  I don’t want to sleep, yet.”

“Do you mind telling me what that was, then?”

“I told you,” Rory shrugged.

“I have found that people tend to speak nonsense when they’re fucking.”

Rory grinned.  “I may speak nonsense, but I always tell the truth.”

Jack snorted.  That was true enough.  He remembered it well.  Rory never made empty promises, never said anything he didn’t mean.

As though reading Jack’s thoughts (though Jack could tell that he wasn’t), Rory spoke, his voice pitched low.  “I meant what I said.  I am not asking anything of you.  But you know where I stand.”

“Do I?”  In Rory’s kind and forthright presence, Jack felt safe to be completely honest.  “You’ve lost your humanity, thought you lost your beloveds, been ill, been attacked by Weevils, poisoned yourself, and had the Doctor inadvertently mindfuck you.  Forgive me if I wonder if all of that is just a bit much, and maybe I’ve just been a distraction.”

Rory nodded.  “I understand your concern.  Can I tell you how it’s been for me, though?”  At Jack’s nod, Rory continued.  “The vaccine made me remember you.  And then we spent several weeks in the vortex.  Only a handful of trips, and the Waverider was only the second time I left the TARDIS.  I had a lot of quiet time to myself, to remember.”

Rory took Jack’s hand.  “And I remembered _you_.  Remembered what we shared.  Remembered the particular way you made me ache.  Remembered the day when suddenly you had never even existed.”  He paused, blinking away some of the brightness that had come into his eyes and clearing his throat. 

“And I realized that I still missed you, Jack.  So much.  But I just assumed that you would not remember me, if you were even alive, in this timeline.  And coward that I am, I couldn’t bear the thought of being forgotten, again.  So I tried to… not think about it.”

He smiled ruefully.  “Worked, too.  For three days, maybe.  But then I died in parallel Rome.  The Doctor and Amy came into my mind to talk about the procedure, but they found me huddled in a corner, still trying to recover from being dragged back through the howling.  I…” he frowned.  “I started crying at the thought of how many times you’ve had to do that.”

Jack gave his hand a squeeze.  “When we returned to this universe, the Doctor and Amy asked me about you.  The Doctor told me you were still alive, still here.  He told me about the 456.  He told me you might even remember me.  And I was about to ask him to bring me to see you.”  He closed his eyes.  “But then other things happened.”

Jack stared at him, trying to take in what he was saying.  Rory squeezed his hand.  “So from my perspective, as soon as I remembered you, I wanted you back.  Did I try to fight it, because navigating the new dynamic with the Doctor and Amy was taking most of my energy?  Yes.  Did I avoid it because I was afraid you wouldn’t remember me?  Probably.  But was I _always_ going to come find you?  Absolutely.”

Rory reached out and touched Jack’s cheek.  “This isn’t some weekend fling where I picked you up last week and am now professing my love after knowing you for only a few days.  In the time without stars, we knew one another for sixty-one years, two months and two weeks.  And I loved you for damn near that entire time, though I’m sorry to say I never told you that.”

“Rory,” Jack tried to speak, but Rory squeezed his hand, needing to finish.

“Jack, I mourned you for thirty-three very long years, after you disappeared.  And for whatever reason, I buried you when the universe rebooted.  Probably because I was getting married, the next day.  But surely you know that what I feel for you is not a distraction.”  He sighed.  “But I suppose I understand, if you don’t trust that.”

Rory drew in a deep breath and stared at their joined hands.  He had begun to tremble, slightly.  “And I understand if you don’t… if you don’t…” he couldn’t say it.  “If you don’t, too.  But I know everything has been mad and intense, and I think some time to yourself might help.  I don’t want you to feel pressured or obligated or…” he stopped speaking.

Jack had watched Rory’s face.  That beloved face.  And it was all he could do not to jump out of bed, grab his clothes, and take off into the night before he could do something impulsive.  He cast about desperately, trying to find all of the things that were giving him pause.  “Rory, how could you possibly know what you want, right now?  You’ve been through hell.  And how could I take that chance?  It would be a terrible thing, to take advantage of you, when you’re so vulnerable.”

Rory looked into his eyes, that strong, steady gaze that had seen centuries pass.  That look had always disconcerted Jack.  “I hope you won’t confuse the turmoil I’ve been experiencing with any sort of dithering, on my part.  I know who I love, Jack.  I don’t just latch onto people, at random, no matter how difficult things get.  Those eighteen centuries could have been a lot less lonely, had I tended in that direction.”

Rory sighed, knowing the conversation needed to conclude, at least for now.  “Okay, so here’s what we can do.  Christmas is in a few weeks.  We’re leaving tomorrow, but I am going to ask that we come back and spend a few days with Dad, for the holiday.  If you decide you want to explore this, whatever it might turn out to be, then you join us.”

“If I decide to show up, what if I come, and then you’ve changed your mind?”

Rory sighed.  “You come on Christmas Eve.  If I change my mind, we won’t come until Christmas day.  If anything keeps either of us from showing up if or when we intend to, then we’ll leave a message with Dad.”

Jack gave a shaky sigh.  “Okay.”  He hesitated.  “And what are we deciding on, exactly?”

“Whether to attempt any sort of relationship.  We would likely only see one another every month or so, though I do hope you would decide to travel with us, every now and again.  It would not have to be exclusive for you, though I have no desire to take any sort of space STD back to Amy or the Doctor.  You know that for me, it would only be you three.”

“Space STD?” Jack smirked.  Then he sobered.  “What about the Doctor?”

Rory shrugged.  “That’s up to him.  I’ll need some time to get past all of this, to rebuild things with them.  But that shouldn’t interfere with what happens between you and me.”

“I think you should stay away for six months, before you come back for Christmas.”

Rory reacted strangely to these words.  His eyes grew wide, and he paled.  “You want me to wait.”

“For six months.  Just to be sure,” Jack frowned.  Was it really so long?

“You want me to _wait_.”  Rory sat up, frowning.  “You want _me_ to wait.”

_Shit._

_Shit._

_Shit._

Jack realized what he had just asked.  He sat up, as well.  “Rory –“ 

“Okay.”  He said it so quietly, Jack barely heard him.  His posture was slumped, as though he had been kicked in the chest, and was attempting to protect himself from another blow.  He turned away, putting his feet on the floor.  “If that’s what you need, all right.”

Without a word, he got up and left the room on unsteady legs, heading for the bathroom and closing the door behind him.  Jack heard water running, and then a loud thump that had him running for the door.  “Rory?”

“Just a little lightheaded,” Rory mumbled.  “Sat down before I could fall.”

“Let me in, Rory.”

“Just give me a minute,” came the strained response.

“Not a chance.” 

“Leave it, Jack.  I’ll be out in a minute.”

Jack heard the warning in Rory’s tone.  The one that said the centurion had been pushed far enough, for one night.  “Just tell me you’re all right, please,” he said quietly through the door.

“Why should I?  You won’t believe me, anyway,” came the bitter reply.  “Just give me six months.  That’ll prove I’m not lying, yeah?”

 _Shit_.

“Rory, I know you’re not lying.  I just… want you to be sure.”

“Soft, wet, _stupid_ Rory.  Can’t believe he knows what he wants or means what he says until after he’s endured some ridiculous _test_.”  His voice was hoarse, as though he was fighting tears.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Leave it, Jack.  I said I’d do it, and I will.  Just… don’t expect me to be happy about it.”

“Rory –” Jack sighed and walked to the bed and sat.

Rory bit into the towel he was holding to his face, doing everything in his power not to cry out as the panic attack began in earnest.  _Shallow breaths_.  He closed his eyes as tears streamed and his hearts raced. 

He didn’t quite understand the reaction.  Six months was not a long time.  It was the blink of an eye.  Hell, he’d gone for six months without even blinking, one time.  No, what had been triggered were the memories of waiting. 

The pain, the loneliness, the sorrow.  For a moment, Jack’s request had sent him hurtling back into that time of waiting.  But this would be different.  Six months with Amy and the Doctor would not be the same as what he had endured, before.  Besides, this was about what Jack needed, in order to feel safe in proceeding with the relationship.

The panic attack eased, and Rory stood.  He splashed water on his face and took a long drink.  He was shaking terribly.  His eyes were red rimmed and he had a ghostly pallor.  He dried his face and turned the water off.

When he stepped out of the bathroom, Jack stood up and crossed to Rory.  His steps faltered when he saw Rory’s face, but he gathered him into his arms.  “Are you all right?”

Rory nodded, and they returned to bed.  Jack lay Rory on his back and pressed the front of his body to Rory’s side.  He was troubled by the trembling he felt.  “What just happened?” he whispered.

Rory sighed.  It wasn’t really something he could hide, or lie about.  His pallor and trembling were too pronounced.  “Panic attack.”

“I wish you’d let me help you.”

Rory kissed Jack on the top of the head.  “Not this time.”

Jack held Rory closer and felt tears blur his vision.  “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.  They’ve become pretty normal, since the Waverider.”

Jack closed his eyes, allowing that tender lie to pass.  He pressed a kiss to Rory’s skin.  “Rory, you’re not soft, you’re not wet, and you’re not stupid.  I am sorry I hurt you.  But I need for you to be sure, before we try to disrupt your already disrupted family.  This will give you time to mend things with them, and to be sure I… fit.”

“Oh, I assure you, you fit just fine,” Rory said, his voice husky.  He put a hand under Jack’s chin and guided him up for a kiss.

Jack was surprised by the hunger in Rory’s kiss, and by his own response.  He felt himself obliging when Rory pulled him more fully on top of him.  Jack’s hands roamed all along the stark lines of Rory’s body as his mouth followed.  After a lusty kiss, Rory handed Jack the bottle and said, “I think we need to see how well you fit, Javic.”

Jack gave a chuckle, but he did not balk at the offer.  He quickly had Rory ready, and as he pressed into that blinding heat he was stunned by Rory’s response.  Rory bucked beneath him, clawing at his hips, begging for more.  Jack fucked him, hard and fast, working his cock at the same time, giving it that special twist just when he hit his prostate.

Rory came with a growl, pulling Jack along with him.  There were no telepathic endearments, no pleasurable feedback loops.  Just them, seeking comfort and solace and reaching for something each thought was too beautiful for him.

They fell asleep tangled up in one another, embracing tightly, their legs entwined, neither inclined to create any distance between them, for that would come with the morning.

***

Jack cooked breakfast the next morning as Rory finished packing the messenger bag.  It was a struggle to finish a single egg and a half piece of toast, but he forced it down.  After they cleaned the kitchen they headed out to the TARDIS. 

Amy and the Doctor came out to see Jack off, and Rory’s father arrived to make his farewells to everyone.

“Dad,” Rory embraced his father.  “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me.  I’m sorry I’ve been such a bother.”

“You were no bother, Son.  And I hope you’ll forgive me for saying that part of me is glad this happened.  It’s the best we’ve ever gotten along.”

Rory smiled.  “It is, isn’t it?  But I am sorry to have caused so much worry.”  He embraced his father.  “Love you, Dad.”

“Well,” Brian said as he released his son.  He gave a great sniff.  “Jack, it was good to meet you.”  He shook Jack’s hand, then reached for the Doctor’s.  “Doctor, always a pleasure.”

“Thank you, Brian,” both men said in unison.

Brian reached out and hugged Amy.  “You should visit your parents, Amy.  They worried when Rory told them you were still travelling.  He didn’t tell them anything, but they knew he was sick, and knew you weren’t here.  They’re worried for you, my Dear.”

“Thank you, Brian,” she said, returning his hug.  In the next moment, he left for work.

While Rory and his father were talking, Jack told the Doctor about Rory’s panic attack, and his continued struggle with eating.  Now the Doctor turned to Rory.  “All right, Rory?”

“Fine,” Rory said bracingly.  “I’d like to come back for Christmas, in a few weeks.  But…”  He found he needed to clear his throat.  “But I need to stay away for six months.”

“What?” Amy frowned.

The Doctor looked at Jack, who was studying his boots.  “I see,” he said.  He reached out and took Jack’s hand.  _Is this why he had a panic attack?_

“You told him?” Rory rounded on Jack.

The Doctor and Jack stared at him, wide eyed.  Jack was the first to recover.  “I figured you wouldn’t.”

“What just happened?” Amy asked.

“Jack asked Rory to stay away for six months.  And Rory had a panic attack.  And it appears he may be more than a touch telepath.”

Any one of those statements would have given Amy pause.  She went for the easiest, first.  “Why would you ask him to do that?” she frowned at Jack.

“Amy, it’s fine,” Rory said, exasperated.

“Not if it gave you a panic attack, it’s not,” she replied heatedly.

“It just triggered some memories.  It’s not a huge deal.  I’ve had too many to count, since the Waverider.”

The Doctor turned to Rory.  “And the ginger beer helped,” he said.

“Yes,” Rory shrugged.  “But I told you I’d stop, and I have.”

“But why six months?” Amy was properly annoyed, now.  For weeks she had been forcing herself to deal with the fact that Rory was in love with someone besides her.  Besides her and the Doctor.  And just as she was coming to grips with it, he was sending Rory away?  How dare he!  How dare he hurt Rory!

“Because that’s what he asked, and that’s what I’ll give.  It’s a fair enough point that my life has been insane, lately.  He needs to know he’s not just a distraction.”

“Just a…” she practically sputtered and rounded on Jack.  “You would actually question the loyalty of the most loyal man who ever drew breath?”

“Amy,” Rory’s eyes held the smallest of smiles as he took her by the elbow and led her into the TARDIS.  “Thank you, really.  But this isn’t about me.  It’s for him, okay?”

“But he’s hurt you,” she said quietly.  “I can tell.”

“Yes, but he’s hurting, too,” he replied.  “Thank you for taking up for me, but it’s all right.  Really.”

Amy bit her lip as Rory went back out.  He found the Doctor giving Jack a hug.  “Have you arranged everything?  Will we see you here at Christmas?”

“If Jack is willing to give this a go, we’ll see him on Christmas Eve,” Rory said.

“And if Rory changes his mind, I’ll see Brian on Christmas Eve, and you will arrive on Christmas day.”

The Doctor just stared at Jack, but Rory gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head, and he let it drop.  “Then I hope I’ll see you at Christmas, Jack.”

Jack nodded in acknowledgement, but not agreement.  He hugged the Doctor again and he and Rory walked around to his SUV.  He threw his bag in the back and opened the driver’s door.  As he turned, Rory grabbed him and pinned him to the vehicle and kissed him with such vehemence that Jack’s legs became weak. 

 _Sweet Javic_.  Rory felt Jack shiver.  When he finally pulled back, Jack looked slightly dazed.  “May I write to you?”

Jack nodded, feeling slightly befuddled.

“Thank you.”  One more kiss, and Rory stepped back. 

Jack almost fell into the driver’s seat.  In the rearview mirror, he watched Rory watch him leave. 

***


	5. Home Again

Rory felt an odd mixture of joy and sorrow as he closed the TARDIS door.  Almost immediately, the Doctor threw a lever and took them into the vortex.

“Oi!”  Rory grumbled.  “I barely shut the door!”

“Yes, and I’m not going to give you the chance to change your mind,” the Doctor grinned.

Rory gave him a small smile.  “I’m pretty tired.  All right if I find my room?”

“Of course.”  The Doctor nodded and Rory trudged off, looking weary.

“Doctor, what the hell is going on?”

The Doctor sighed.  “If I had to guess, Rory told Jack he loved him, and Jack panicked.”

“But why would he send Rory away?”

“Jack’s last lover died in his arms, Amy.  He was devastated.  And then he killed his own grandchild in order to save every other child on the planet.  I’m afraid he is going to push Rory away until he figures out that our Centurion is not going to change his mind.”

“Poor Rory,” she said, wiping the tears that were falling.  “Everyone he loves keeps hurting him.”

“Yes,” the Doctor replied.

The TARDIS’ background hum changed pitch, ever so slightly. 

The Doctor chuckled.  “Yes, Dear, except for you.  Though you did turn to wood.”

The replying hum was forlorn.

“Well, perhaps you can help cheer him up.  I have a feeling he is going to avoid us for a few days, so if you could just be sure he eats.  Matter of fact, please just let me know when, what, how much…  We need to be sure his health does not suffer.”

She almost chirped in delight.  Amy gave a laugh, and the Doctor smiled.

***

Rory slept a great deal the first week he was back onboard the TARDIS.  Most of the time, she kept the room cool and dark and sang sweetly to him.  But every five hours, the song would become dissonant and the lights would gradually turn on, and Rory would wake to find a dish of food on his night table.  He would sit up and eat – usually a thick broth or oatmeal with raisins or something equally nourishing and comforting – and drink the tea and water that accompanied it, and then return to sleep.

The Doctor and Amy were just happy he was back on board.  The TARDIS would allow them a peek at his sleeping form every now and again, and the Doctor was delighted that he was eating more heartily than expected.

Rory finally left his room on the morning of his eighth day back aboard the TARDIS.  He made his way to the garden with his sword and spent an hour exhausting himself doing forms.  He flopped down on the grass and tried to ignore the melancholy that had settled upon him.

“Rory?”

“Amy,” Rory sighed.  He wasn’t sure how to navigate this.  He hated that things felt so alien, so awkward between them.  He wondered if their relationship could recover from the blow it had taken.

“Would you like some tea?”  She held out a cup to him.

“Thank you,” he said, taking the cup.

“How do you feel?”  She sat down beside him.

“Better.  The swallowing thing is easing.”

“So eating is easier?”

He nodded.

“The Doctor asked me to tell you that if you want to write to Jack, he can be sure your letters are delivered on whatever day you’d like.”

“Thanks.”  He looked at her.  “How are you?”

They sat and talked for almost an hour, naturally falling back into their ease with one another.  Amy heeded the Doctor’s advice to not overstay, and she reluctantly left him at a convenient lull in the conversation, taking the mug with her and reminding Rory that the Doctor wished to check him over in the med bay before lunch.

The Doctor was pleased with the state of Rory’s health.  He found an easy rapport with his friend that he appreciated, the more so because it was clear that Rory was putting forth an effort.  He invited Rory to join them for meals, hoping he would agree to at least one, each day.

Rory’s first month back on the TARDIS was fairly routine.  He would get up and do forms in the garden before having breakfast and getting dressed.  Then he would spend a few hours in the library, with the Doctor sometimes joining him.  It was as likely that he would disappear and the TARDIS would provide him lunch in some far off recess of the ship as it was for him to join the Doctor and Amy in the kitchen, but the TARDIS always ensured that he ate.

The afternoon saw him swimming and then napping, and he did always try to join Amy and the Doctor for dinner.  After dinner he would join them for telly or a movie or retreat to his room, depending upon his mood.  Sometimes he would join the Doctor for random repairs.  Sometimes he would wander the halls with Amy, letting her chatter away.

They both allowed him his space during that month, realizing that he was finally making headway in his recovery from the procedure, the regeneration sickness, and the poisoning.  The panic attacks became fewer, but the TARDIS always alerted the Doctor if Rory was having one.  It was a minor victory when, six weeks after returning, Rory allowed the Doctor and Amy to comfort him when one struck.

As his recovery progressed and he began to put on weight and regain his health, he slowly began allowing them to draw closer to him, once more.  He began participating in conversations with them rather than merely listening to them ramble nervously.  They treated him so softly, so kindly, that he wasn’t sure how to respond.  He knew they were sorry, and that they were worried about him, but he longed for their old camaraderie.  But as the weeks passed, his confidence grew.  He now knew they would get there.

About two months in, he encouraged the Doctor and Amy to start going on adventures again.  He assured them that he would be there if they needed him, and he would join them once he began feeling better, but there was no point in them missing out just because he was still feeling weak and tired.

He had to rescue them on their second outing.

At ten weeks, he asked Amy out on a date.  The Doctor stopped in London so they could have dinner and walk along the Thames.  It was lovely and uneventful (not a single alien invasion), and Rory kissed Amy goodnight upon their return to the TARDIS.  The Doctor teased them both for being mooney eyed and daydreamy for days, after.

The following week, Rory invited the Doctor for a date.  The Doctor took him to a restaurant overlooking the Indigo Nebula.  After a minor explosion and some light running to work off a spectacular meal, Rory walked the Doctor to his door and kissed him goodnight.

After three months, Rory had finally put back on all of the weight he had lost.  Not long after, snogging in the hallways became more frequent and intense.  Rory and Amy were as nervous as they had been their first time when they finally slept together, but they quickly regained their familiarity.  Rory kept her spread before him like a sumptuous meal for the night, the next day, and the next night, relearning the landscape of her body.

A week later, Rory bedded the Doctor, meticulously exploring and reclaiming what he had for so many weeks thought had been lost.  Rory never uttered the name Theta aloud, only whispering it in his mind.  He did not love Amy’s exclusion, but he knew that in time the Doctor would tell her, as well.

Four months had passed when Rory moved back into the bedroom he had shared with Amy and the Doctor, before the Waverider.  It wasn’t until then that the three lovers began sharing the same bed, again.  Deep in the night he whispered his forgiveness to them as they loved.  It was then that Rory began joining Amy and the Doctor on all of their outings, once more.

Rory had been back for five months before things began feeling normal, again.  But it was a new normal.  Rory was no longer jealous or insecure.  He was no longer clumsy or unsure.  It was as though the events of the last nine or ten months had tempered those last remnants of immaturity from him. 

When Amy first took note of the difference she thought she would miss those things that she had always found so endearing.  But she realized he was still Rory.  He was still funny and silly and idiotic in all the wonderful ways she had always loved.  But he was also more _himself_.  That loyalty, that steadiness, that patience.  They had settled in and he was so much more substantial, now.  More _there_.

She would find herself just staring at him, at times, and when she wasn’t careful, he would catch her.  He would quirk an eyebrow as though saying, “What?”  But there was nothing she could say in reply other than to tell him she loved him and make her best attempt at snogging his face off.

***


	6. Familia

Rory had developed a discipline of writing to Jack every nine days.  At the end of six months, there were twenty letters.  He gathered them together and the Doctor took him to Cardiff early in the morning on the first of December, the day after he and Jack had parted ways. 

Rory found Gwen’s flat easily enough, and gave her the box of letters, each numbered with the date he wished them to be delivered.  He also gave her two packages, also with the dates on them.

“What’s all this?” she asked, smiling at him.  Jack had been in a terrible mood when he had returned, the day before.

“It’s been six months, for me, which is what he asked.  But I asked if I could write to him.  I think he thought I was just being kind.”  He looked a bit nervous.  “I honestly don’t know if this will be welcome, but…” he swallowed.

“I’ll be sure he gets each one, and on the correct date.  You look so much better, Rory.  I hope you’ve fully recovered.”

Rory smiled and nodded.  “Just two more stops, and then Christmas Eve.  Do you mind if I drop something off on the eighteenth?”

“Not at all.  Tell you what, bring Amy and the Doctor, and Rhys and I will have a proper breakfast for you.”

“Thank you,” Rory smiled broadly.  “And thank you for this.  It’s a tremendous favor.”

“Oh, Love.  This is the most life Jack has shown since… he got back.  Thank you for being so good to him.  I think he thinks he doesn’t deserve it.”

Rory gave her hand a squeeze and left again.  The Doctor took him to the Boeshane Peninsula and back to Cardiff, the morning of the eighteenth.  The three arrived right on time for a fantastic breakfast with Gwen and Rhys. 

The Doctor told them the story of Charles Dickens and a young maid named Gwyneth.  He and Amy kept casting glances at Rory, who was studiously avoiding asking Gwen about Jack’s reaction to his daily letters.

Rory handed Gwen a wooden box a bit smaller than a shoebox.  He hesitated.  “I’m not sure how this will go over, so… can you text me?  I…” he seemed less sure of himself than he had on the first.

“Is this all the same day, for you?”

Rory nodded.  “I dropped off the letters a few hours ago.  Then we stopped for these and came back.”

She shook her head.  “Well let me put your mind at ease, Love.  He smiles over those letters like they’re the best part of his day.  Well, there was one that made him terribly cross, but mostly he’s been very pleased.”

“Really?” Rory asked, perking up.  “I was afraid to ask.  And then, when you didn’t say anything, I was afraid that meant…”

“You really don’t know?” she looked at him, wide-eyed.

“Know?” he looked more like his old, awkward self, and Amy squeezed his hand.  He shook his head.  “I have no idea whether he will turn up on Christmas Eve, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“And he says he doesn’t know that you’ll turn up.  He says he asked you to stay away so you’d know for sure, and he doesn’t know that you haven’t changed your mind.  And I can’t say you haven’t, because he hasn’t figured out how the letters are getting in, and I’m not inclined to tell him.”

“He hasn’t looked up the security footage?”

She grinned.  “He does that every day, but Rex turns off the camera when I run in and drop off the letters.  When he turns it back on again, he bleeds the clock a bit before so the break doesn’t show up.”

Rory laughed.  “Well, if all goes well, I’ll see him later today, on Christmas Eve.”

“Good luck, Mate,” Rhys said, shaking his hand. 

Gwen hugged each of them and saw them out.

***

When Jack arrived at the office, he saw the box on his desk.  Each Friday since the letters began he had received not a letter, but a treat of some sort.  The first Friday had been a box of truffles from Auguste Escoffier’s kitchen in the 1920’s.  The second had been a bottle of his favorite brand of hypervodka.  Today…

He sat down hard in his chair, staring at the box that was so familiar.  He had not seen one since he was a child, before the invasion of the Boeshane Peninsula that had destroyed the orchards.  His hands shook as he took the top off of the box.  Inside were the most beautiful Isolde cherries he had ever seen.

It was normally a pale fruit, off white in color until ripening to a blush pink.  Jack had once teased Rory, saying his blushes were prettier than Isolde cherries.  It had been a passing comment, one of those throwaway moments made all the sweeter for how clearly it remains in memory.

“Jack,” Gwen walked in with a file folder but stopped short when she saw his face.  She quickly closed the door.  “You all right?”

“I mentioned Isolde cherries to him once.  Had to be eighty years ago, for him.”  He pulled a cherry out of the box and stared at it.  “Just the once.”  He put the cherry in his mouth and closed his eyes and chewed slowly, allowing the flavor and aroma to carry him back to his childhood.

When he opened his eyes, tears were streaming down his face.  “Here.  Please.”  He offered Gwen the box.

She took one of the cherries and bit into it, surprised by the sweet and tangy explosion of warmth and juiciness.  “That is delicious, Jack.  Where are they from?”

“Boeshane, before the invasion,” he said quietly.  “He remembered, and he went…”  He stood and turned his back, trying to regain his composure. 

“That was very thoughtful,” Gwen said, watching Jack closely.

“I wonder if he did that, first,” he said, wiping his face and turning back to his desk.  Then he saw the top of the cherry box.  Scrawled on the inside of the lid was a message.

_It’s been six months, Jack.  Really hoping you’ll be there on Christmas Eve._

Rory’s letters had shown the progression of his six months on the TARDIS.  The early, awkward days giving way to rediscovery, healing, and rekindling of old passions.  And while the letters were filled with everyday life with Amy and the Doctor, they had also been filled with love for Jack.  There had been nothing to indicate the centurion was having any change of heart or mind, and Jack was by turns excited and terrified.

Each day’s letter was full of humor and love and adventure, and Jack could practically hear Rory’s voice in each of them.  Each letter made him smile, with the exception of the one describing their capture by a hostile faction of N’ee’ee as the Doctor had attempted to broker a peace on the planet of Ur.  Still, the letter assured him of their safe return to the TARDIS after a tense standoff during which the Doctor became ‘quite cross’.

Jack still didn’t know how the letters were arriving, though he suspected Gwen and Rex of colluding with Rory, somehow.  At that moment, Rex knocked.  Jack waved him in.

“You all right?” Rex asked, frowning.

“Just a trip down memory lane.  Would you like to try one?”  He held the box out to Rex, then offered Gwen another before eating two more.  “Never had the nerve to go back, but man, they’re as good as I remember.”

“They grow these, where you come from?” Rex asked, savoring the delicious fruit.

“The orchards were wiped out by the invasion, but yeah.  I grew up spending summers harvesting these.  Ended up eating half of what I picked.  Here, have another.  They tend to rot within a day or two of being picked.”

They spent the better part of the morning sitting there, eating cherries and listening to Jack reminisce about the happy days of his childhood, the days before tragedy struck.  It was a gift that gave sweetly and richly, the more it unfolded.

As Rex and Gwen left the office hours later, Rex shook his head.  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so relaxed and… _happy_.”

Gwen smiled.  “Amazing how something as simple as remembering an everyday detail can make someone so happy.”  She pulled out her phone and texted Rory that the cherries had been a huge success.

***

Rory had made the Doctor land on the twenty-second.  He made Amy get out of the TARDIS and make sure it was the correct year.  Then he went and bought a newspaper, just to be certain.  His nerves made the others laugh, but they took pity on him and helped distract him with Christmas decorations.

Brian showed up after work, and then Amy’s parents stopped by, and soon enough they were crowded around the dinner table, enjoying a huge meal.  Amy and her parents recruited the Doctor to help clean up after the meal, and Rory and his dad walked to the pub.

“You look good, Son.”

“Thanks.  I’m feeling a lot better.”

“Any more trouble?”  Brian wasn’t sure how to ask whether his son was some sort of alien alcoholic, now.

Rory chuckled.  “Haven’t even had a craving for ginger beer since we left.  It helped that the panic attacks pretty much stopped, two months in.”

“You’ve been gone for how long?”

Rory sighed.  “Jack asked me to stay away for six months.”

“Well, I can see where all the drama would have made a man without a broken heart nervous.  But Jack.  He seemed to be just coming out of something tough.”

“Yeah.  His partner died a couple of years ago.  He’s still hurting from that.”

“And you told him that if he wants to give it a go, show up on Christmas Eve?”

Rory nodded.  “I’m really nervous.”

“You think he won’t?”

“I think he’s got a track record of punishing himself.”

“But I don’t think he’d hurt you to do it, Son.  He was… really good to you, last month.”

Rory nodded.  “I know.  I shouldn’t have told him I loved him.”

Brian looked sharply at him.  “Why not?”

“It rattled him.  We were together for a long time, in that other universe.  But I never told him.  And then, that night you all visited me,” he tapped his temple, “I just… couldn’t _not_ tell him.”

Brian chuckled.  “Been there.  I almost scared your mum off, the same way.”

“Really?”

Brian nodded.  He hesitated, then asked, “So how does that all work?  I mean…” he was flustered, and Rory chuckled and threw an arm around his shoulder.

“You really want to know?”  He chuckled again when Brian shrugged a shoulder.  “The three of us share a bed.  I won’t tell you the semantics, because I’m pretty sure you don’t want to know _that_.  If Jack shows up, then he and I will likely be on our own.  Not sure, but the Doctor might join us.  He and Jack have loved one another a long time, too.”

“And Amy?”

“She’s alright, I think.  I’ll have to keep an eye on her, to be sure.”

“So you don’t just… get a bigger bed?”

“No,” Rory laughed.  “She doesn’t really know Jack.  Though I’d be surprised if she didn’t eventually fall for him.  He’s a good man.”

Brian shook his head.  “I guess I’m old fashioned.  I just don’t see how you can love more than one person at a time.”

“I can’t explain it, Dad.  I always thought I was monogamous.  But I love them all, so much.”

“That I can see very plainly, Son.  And it’s not that soppy puppy love that you used to have for Amy.  I worried about that, for a long time, because it never turns out.  But when you married, I wasn’t worried any more.  It seemed like something more steady, more mature.”

“Well, by then I’d waited for her for almost two millennia,” Rory quipped.

Brian shook his head again.  “How did you do it, Son?  By the Doctor’s own admission, it should have sent you around the bend.”

“Oh, I didn’t stay sane the whole time.  But I just knew she’d be safer if I could hold it together, so mostly I just did.”

Brian reached out and embraced Rory.  “I am proud of the man you’ve become, Son.  I hope you know that.”

Rory returned his father’s hug.  “Thank you,” he said, trying not to get choked up.

After a swift half, they returned to the house, where the Doctor was attempting to play charades.  He had his arms held straight over his head and was jumping up and down.

“Sister Christian,” Rory said, earning a grin from the Doctor and a thrown pillow from Amy.

“No telepathy!” she groused.

“Not telepathy,” he laughed.  “He was doing his impression of the time rotor.  Besides, it’s your favorite song for charades.”

The others were staring at him.  “What?  Rotor rhymes with motor.  Motoring.  Right?”

“Telepathy?” Amy’s mother asked.  Amy had promised to tell her parents about the procedure Rory had undergone while they were gone.

“Mostly touch telepathy, unless someone is screaming their thoughts, or trying to communicate too close to me,” he looked around again before turning to Amy.  “You didn’t tell them, did you?”

“Well, two hearts kind of did them in, I was saving the rest for later.”

“Rory, Dear, it’s fine.  Really.  It’s just a lot to take in,” Tabetha said kindly.  Augustus nodded his agreement, though Rory couldn’t really tell which part he was agreeing to.

Brian chuckled.  “Oh, just wait until Christmas Eve.”

Rory and the Doctor burst out laughing.  Amy looked annoyed but couldn’t hold back a grin.  She was uncertain how her wee dad would take the news.  He might take offense, on her behalf.  She was still hoping there’d be a way to navigate this without letting her parents in on the new dynamics of her marriage.

***

The twenty-third passed slowly, and it was all Amy and the Doctor could do to occupy Rory with various decorating schemes and other distractions.  At one point, Amy tossed him into the pool for a quick shag to try to make him relax.  When he started getting cross a few hours later, she and the Doctor took him to bed and kept him so distracted that the rest of the day and night slipped away without further angst. 

They left him to pace the halls of the TARDIS on Christmas Eve.  Having promised to cook a festive dinner, they had grocery shopping and food preparation to keep them busy.  Around mid-day, there was a knock at the door. 

Amy answered the door.  She was so relieved to see Jack standing there, looking uncertain, that she hurled herself into his arms.  “Thank God you’ve shown up!” she exclaimed, laughing.  “He’s in the TARDIS.  Please go put him out of his misery.”

Jack grinned at her and kissed the Doctor on the cheek on his way out to the TARDIS.  The two weren’t heard from the rest of the day.  When Tabetha and Augustus arrived, the Doctor went out to retrieve them.  He came back a half hour later, considerably more disheveled than when he’d left.

Amy was surprised that she found it quite funny.  Rory and Jack joined them soon after, and the happy, relaxed atmosphere had everyone feeling festive.  Rory caught Amy under the mistletoe as the parents all departed.  As Amy buried her face in his neck, Jack wrapped his arms around both of them from behind Rory, nibbling the other side of his neck as the Doctor kissed him.

 _Home_.

Rory sighed as the others drew back.  “What was that?” the Doctor asked, his eyes slightly glazed.

“I’m home,” he whispered, finding Amy’s mouth.  He managed to pull the Doctor and Jack close again, kissing each of them as he could.  They all seemed to ebb and flow together, as though they had been doing this dance for a very long time.  “You’re my home.  My family.  I love you.”

Rory had already spoken with the Doctor, trying to plan for Amy’s comfort.  He had no expectation that she would feel comfortable enough with Jack to join them, so he was planning to begin the evening with Amy and end it with Jack, perhaps shagging the Doctor in the hallway as they exchanged places.

He really had to marvel at his Gallifreyan-adjacent libido.  As he had regained his health, it had stabilized, but his appetites were considerably stronger than they had ever been before.  The Doctor had described him as adolescent, still getting used to the new hormones.  But given the Doctor’s age and the fact that he was more than able to keep up, Rory couldn’t help but wonder just how long adolescence lasted, for this physiology.

Amy turned in his arms and looked up at the Doctor.  “So what delayed you earlier, when you went to call these two in for dinner?”

“Well,” the Doctor blushed, and Rory smiled fondly. 

“Rory and I went down on him,” Jack said, returning to biting Rory’s neck and shoulder as though it was the most delectable thing he had ever tasted.

“Ooh,” Amy wriggled against Rory, causing him to place a hand against her belly and grind against her even as Jack grabbed his hips and pressed his pulsing erection against Rory’s arse.  “That sounds so sexy.”  She hesitated, looking up at the Doctor.

“What is it, Amy?” he asked, looking at her with such love and care.  “Tell me what you want, Love.”

She bit her lip and smiled up at him.  “If you and Jack have any similar plans for Rory, I’d like to watch.”  She felt Rory’s breath hitch and added quickly, “That is, if it’s…  If it’s okay.”

Rory turned her head and captured her mouth in a blistering kiss.  “Are you sure?” he asked, his voice husky.

“I don’t know about joining in,” she said, breathing heavily.  “Maybe once I get to know Jack better, but…  But I want to see them have at you.”

Now it was Jack groaning.  “Amy, I think you and I are going to get along, just fine,” he smiled at her.  “Can we please take this back to the TARDIS?”

They retired to Jack’s old room, where the bed was more than big enough.  That way Amy could leave whenever she wanted and be able to go back to the privacy of her own room.  Jack and the Doctor began undressing one another as Rory and Amy kissed.  Amy stepped out of her own clothing but kept her underwear on.  Her robe was draped across a comfortable chair that was situated in full view of the bed. 

She quickly relieved Rory of his clothing and sat down as the Doctor and Jack turned their attention on him.  The Doctor wrapped his arms around Rory and grabbed his arse, pulling them together so that he could grind their cocks together as he kissed Rory, deep and dirty. 

Jack grabbed Rory by his hair and pulled his head back, delivering a hot, open-mouthed kiss as the Doctor kissed and sucked at Rory’s neck.  Jack released Rory and got on his knees, his back to the bed and facing Amy, with the Doctor and Rory directly before him.  He separated them enough to take them both in hand, frotting their cocks together before putting them both in his mouth.

Both men moaned and grabbed Jack by the hair, enjoying the sensations.  After a few minutes, Jack released them and repositioned himself on his knees behind Rory.  Rory moaned into the Doctor’s mouth as Jack started rimming him.

Rory had to steady himself with the bedpost as the Doctor dropped to his knees and began licking and sucking Rory’s cock.  The Doctor’s and Jack’s hands tangled together as they fondled Rory’s balls, and as the Doctor slid his perfect mouth over Rory’s cock, he gave another moan.

“Fuck, that’s so perfect,” he panted, watching as Amy’s hand reached into her knickers.  His heated gaze emboldened her, and she was soon sprawled naked in the chair, two fingers plunging into her cunt as the Doctor swallowed Rory’s cock and Jack began to tongue fuck him.

The two seemed to sense when Rory’s knees were about to buckle, and they led him to the bed, where Rory knelt over the Doctor with lubed fingers preparing him.  Jack was behind Rory, doing the same.  In short order, Rory had buried his cock in the Doctor’s arse with a hoarse curse.  Jack was teasing Rory’s hole with the head of his cock when Rory stilled.

“Wait,” he panted.  “Wait.”  He took a deep breath and looked at Amy.  His eyes held as much love as heat as he silently invited her to join them.

She was on her feet before she could give herself time to reconsider.  Rory reached down and kissed the Doctor, hard and deep and fast before sitting up.  He guided Amy onto the Doctor’s cock, feeling the Doctor clench around him at the sensation.  Rory kissed Amy before turning his head to kiss Jack.

Jack plunged into Rory in one swift, hard movement that caused him to surge forward into the Doctor, who in turn bucked up into Amy.  All four moaned at the sensation.  The Doctor had one hand on Amy’s breast and one hand entwined with Jack’s on Rory’s hip.  Rory had Jack’s other hand over his, low on Amy’s belly.  His other hand was reached around behind, and he’d managed to work a finger into Jack’s arse, causing him to curse as he fucked his hips harder into Rory.

Somehow, they found a rhythm, but it was all so gorgeous and intense that none would manage to hold out, for long.  The Doctor had the best view of all, and he was close.  He pinched Amy’s nipple, hard, and felt her clench around him as her orgasm overtook her.  He was unable to withstand the onslaught and his muscles contracted around Rory as he came.

Rory had very little range of motion but was using Jack’s momentum to drive into the Doctor.  As soon as the Doctor began to come, he felt lightning shoot down his spine and his balls tighten as he came hard, pulling Jack along with him with a shout.

The four extricated themselves from one another before collapsing onto the bed in a bit of a heap.  Amy was half on top of the Doctor, with Rory plastered to her back.  Jack was pressed so close to Rory’s back that Rory could feel Jack’s heartbeat slow as he calmed.

“Ego amare familia mea,” Rory whispered before falling asleep.[1]

Amy giggled.  “We short-circuited him again.”

The Doctor chuckled sleepily.

Jack reached out and took Amy’s hand as it rested on the Doctor’s abdomen.  He gave it a squeeze and whispered, “Thank you.”

Amy smiled against the Doctor’s chest and returned the squeeze.  She decided she could make peace with anyone who could make Rory moan, like that.

***

 

[1] I love my family.


	7. Onward

Jack adventured with them for a few months before being dropped off in Cardiff the day after Christmas.  Rory visited him every month, and every few months he would join them for a while.  They turned out to be a very happy family, as Rory’s patience and Jack’s easygoing personality provided balance to Amy’s ginger temperament and the Doctor’s sometimes moody genius.

Added fun was when Melody joined them.  The first time they saw her after Barcelona (other than Rory’s visit to Stormcage), Jack was not with them.  But she saw the flirtatious banter and the little touches that betrayed a deeper intimacy than she had noticed, before.  She immediately called them out – not, as they had feared, for the relationship itself, but rather for trying to conceal it.

She was much happier with their openness, though the first time she saw the Doctor snogging her father in the hallway was a bit of a shock.  Mostly because of the intensity Rory had aroused in the Doctor.  Rory was almost demure, though she suspected that was merely due to her own presence.  But the Doctor was downright fierce.  She was gratified by the love she saw between the three of them, though she had no compunction about pulling the Doctor away to their own quarters and keeping him to herself for the duration of her stay.

The months slipped happily by.  The Doctor grabbed River and Jack and Gwen and Rhys and the baby, even Brian and Rex and left Earth from mid-April until mid-May.  When they returned, the news was full of reports of the Battle of New York, with a group of superheroes styling themselves as the Avengers defending the planet from an invasion. 

“Captain America,” Rory shook his head.  “Asleep in the ice for seventy-odd years.”  He frowned.  “That’s really sad, actually.  Everyone he knew then must be gone.”

“How about that Thor, though?” Amy looked devilish, and the Doctor and Jack laughed as Rory rolled his eyes and River nodded her agreement.  “Doctor, why did you take us all away?”

“Fixed point.  Our interference would not have been helpful, nor likely even allowed.  SHIELD can be… difficult.  Oddly nonresponsive, actually.”

“You need to get the right people on your speed dial, Doc,” Jack smiled.  “Nick Fury can be tough, but Peggy Carter will always have your back.”

“You know Agent Carter?” Amy’s eyes were wide as saucers.  River’s were, as well.

“Fans, I take it?” Jack smirked.

“She was our hero, growing up,” Amy enthused.  “I mean, really.  There aren’t that many female superhero role models out there, are there?”

“I always enjoyed kissing Agent Carter, myself,” Rory smiled fondly and leaned over and kissed Amy.  “After she saved the day, of course.”

“Were you the Raggedy Doctor on those occasions?” Jack laughed.

“Just a random man in distress,” Amy replied cheekily as the others laughed.  “C’mon, Jack.  What is she like?”

“All the stories are true,” he smiled.  “She was strong and brave and kept Steve Rogers’ principles alive and well.  And kind.  She’s a very kind woman.”  His smile faded.  “We had some adventures, but she’s kept her distance, over the years.”

“See?  It’s strange, I tell you.  SHIELD was always reluctant to work with me at UNIT,” the Doctor groused.

“She’d work with Torchwood.  But there was always something…  I always sensed something that felt like a paradox, if I got too close.”  He shivered.  “It was strange.  But she was fantastic.  Led SHIELD with as much integrity as an old spy can muster.  SHIELD has become more exploitative, since she retired.”

The Doctor hummed in that way that said he could no longer participate in the conversation without spouting the word ‘spoilers’.

***

After their run-in with the minotaur creature, the Doctor dropped them off at a home he’d bought for them in London.  Jack and Brian had helped to move their things, and it felt very much like home, with its TARDIS blue door.

Amy had lost her faith in the Doctor, and he wanted to give her time to recover, to see if she wanted to continue their adventures, or if she felt too disillusioned to do so.  Rory asked if he could meet the Doctor over tea, feeling disconcerted that he’d had no discernible faith for the creature to exploit.

The Doctor smiled fondly at Rory.  “What you have is better than faith, Ren, and it’s unassailable.”  At Rory’s surprised look, he continued, “You live in love, rather than faith.  And it’s not something that can be easily shaken.  You know your love for me, for instance.  If your faith was in my love for you, then that could be undermined, because we all have doubts that can be exploited.  But you know who you love, and that love is so strong and certain, it is the very basis of who you are.”

Rory smiled his shy smile and the Doctor reached out and squeezed his hand.  He kissed Rory goodbye and left the tea shop.

***

The next time Rory saw the Doctor, he did not know who he was. 

“Hello, Sir.  Pleased to meet you.”

The Doctor was curious.  If anyone would remember it all, shouldn’t it be Rory?  He tried talking to the captain on the pretense of setting him up with Amy.  There was a moment as they talked that Rory’s eyes drifted to the Doctor’s lips.  But the moment passed, and Rory dismissed the Doctor. 

He clapped Rory on the shoulder as he turned to leave, only to feel Rory tense.

“What is it?”

“Just a headache, Sir,” Rory busied himself checking the seals around the Silence’s chambers.

“The captain’s eye drives keep acting up,” Amy spoke up as she made her way back down the passage towards them.  “Won’t interface properly.  We have to issue him a new one every other day.  Come on, Doctor.  Time for you to meet some old friends.”

The Doctor frowned.  Forgetting must have been a coping mechanism because the eye drives were incompatible with Rory’s brain structure, for long term use.  He looked back at Rory as he followed Amy.

Rory listened as their steps faded.  His head was killing him, but he had to check all of the seals.  The Doctor’s touch had actually made the headache worse.  Why would that be?  Everything was so strange and… off.  He could not seem to control his thoughts, which strayed to Miss Pond with inappropriate frequency.  Professor Song always made his chest swell with pride.  And now, the Doctor.  It had taken all of his strength not to reach out and kiss the man just now, right in front of the Silence. 

He had often wondered if the eye drive headaches would send him mad…

He watched Amy kill Madame Kovarian with a grim satisfaction that he did not understand.

He gave Professor Song, who was apparently his daughter, away to marry the Doctor with a hesitation he could not identify.

He watched the stillpoint dissolve and returned to life with Amy with a defiance that he could not articulate.

All he knew was that the Doctor wasn’t dead.  It had never felt real, so it could not possibly be.

River arrived in the back garden two days later, fresh from the Byzantium, and Amy told her the Doctor was dead.  “And I’m worried about Rory.  He refuses to believe that the Doctor is gone.”

“Ah,” River smiled.  “Dad always was incredibly intuitive.”  She went on to tell Amy about the Doctor and the Teselecta.

Rory arrived as Amy was celebrating with River.  He sat down, relieved that perhaps he was not going mad, after all.  He watched them celebrate.  He watched Amy’s face as she realized that she was her lover’s mother in law.  He watched River smile and laugh.

His head still hurt.

Rory had been calling the Doctor’s phone since they got back.  Amy had been giving him tearful, frightened looks, but he had persisted in calling, again and again.  His only message, “Look, you need to call me, yeah?  I know this isn’t real.  So.  Either I’m mad, or you need to answer your phone.”

Now he began calling every five minutes.  After an hour with no answer, he left the first message.  “Answer your bloody phone, you git!”

At midnight, “Listen, mate.  Melody told us about the Teselecta.  Get your arse back here, now.”

At three in the morning, with Amy in bed and Melody headed back to Stormcage, “Theta, please.  Please answer.  My head is killing me.  I know you’re not dead.  I can’t sleep.  Why won’t you answer?  I…”  He sighed.  “Right.  Well, if you could let Jack or Melody know what I can do about my head, that’d be swell.  I wish…  Well, I’m glad you’re not dead.  I love you.  See you around.  Or... well, you know.  Not.”  He hung up.

Rory was flat on his back in the garden, staring up at the stars when the TARDIS landed.  “Rory?”

“Doctor!” Amy was in his arms before he could reach Rory.  “Oi.  Stupidface.  Wake up.”

“He’s not asleep, Amy,” the Doctor scanned Rory with his sonic screwdriver.  “The eyedrive disrupted some nerve endings.  How long did he wear it?”

“Don’t know.  Time stopped, remember?”

“About a year and a half, “Rory groaned.

The Doctor clucked and pointed the sonic at Rory’s head.

“So you’re saying he’s brain damaged?”  The wicked grin on Amy’s face did not hide her concerned frown.

“I’m saying he likely had a year and a half-long migraine.”

“It took a few months to start hurting,” Rory groaned, sitting up.

“Which explains why it didn’t do me any harm, just for those few hours,” the Doctor mused.

Rory rubbed his temples.  Amy was behind him, rubbing his neck and shoulders.  The Doctor was kneeling before him.  “I’m sorry I blocked it all out.  It was just too much.  I figured we’d find one another, though.”

“Rory,” the Doctor touched his cheek.

“Why didn’t you return my calls?”

“I… The battery died while I was taking care of some things.  How did you know?”

“I told you a long time ago.  It didn’t feel real.”  He reached behind him for Amy’s hand and kissed it.  “I know what real feels like.”

“I’m sorry.  I came as soon as I charged the phone and listened to the messages.  Three hundred and forty seven missed calls?  You are determined, Ren.”

“I was rather eager to know whether I was mad or not,” Rory smiled.  He reached out and pulled the Doctor onto his lap, holding him close and sobbing into his neck, relieved he had been right, that the Doctor was alive, that he wasn’t insane (again), that he was surrounded by two of his beloveds.

The Doctor held Rory and worked to sooth the disarray from the chronic migraine.  He and Amy held one another, with Rory between them, until Rory finally relaxed.  A long while later, they all entered the TARDIS.

***

There were mad daleks and dinosaurs on a spaceship (and a horrendous, pickled herring and marmalade kiss) and a strange year spent in relative domesticity, watching a bunch of unassuming black cubes.

Amy seemed to enjoy being grounded.  Rory enjoyed pretending to be normal.  Neither wanted to leave the Doctor, though Amy seemed to be settling down, a bit.  Rory was surprised to find that he was the one who felt restless when they weren’t travelling, now.  But he buried himself in his work and tried not to think about what that meant.

Was it the physiology that caused some sort of Peter Pan Syndrome, he wondered?  He began to understand the Doctor’s wanderlust.  There was just so much to see!  He loved his work, he adored his wife, but the felt most alive when travelling with the Doctor.

It was March of 2014 when Brian encouraged them to keep travelling with the Doctor.  Rory realized with some relief that a lot of Amy’s concern that she was running away from real life was rooted in some image of how a grownup should behave.  Brian’s words seemed to free her of that false sense of obligation.

Jack travelled with them for several months, and when they dropped him off in Cardiff, it was the first day of April.  The Doctor announced that his favorite band’s best performance was reputed to have been given in October of 2016 at a great venue in New York.

“We’re going to Manhattan!” he announced.

***

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I lied. They're totally going to Manhattan.
> 
> Sorry about that, but I gotta go where they take me...
> 
> Clearly there will be a MASSIVE reinterpretation, but that's all I can say, because - well, you know.
> 
> Spoilers. :)


End file.
